Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau charges oligarch close to Zelenskyy in energy scandal

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has determined that businessman Timur Mindich engaged in corrupt activities by exploiting his personal friendship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Investigators concluded that Mindich began leveraging Ukraine’s wartime circumstances and his privileged access to senior officials for personal benefit, Caliber.Az reports, citing the indictment published by Verkhovna Rada member Oleksiy Goncharenko.

“Taking advantage of the situation that had developed in Ukraine during martial law, his friendly ties with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as his connections with current and former high-ranking officials in state authorities and law enforcement agencies, and thereby using his significant influence in the state to serve his own interests, decided to illegally enrich himself by committing crimes in various sectors of the Ukrainian economy,” the statement read.

The investigation focuses on businessman Timur Mindich, a long-standing member of President Zelenskyy’s inner circle. A co-owner of Zelenskyy’s Kvartal 95 Studio, Mindich famously lent Zelenskyy his armoured car during the 2019 presidential campaign.

The relationship between the two was close enough that the president marked his 2021 birthday in an apartment owned by Mindich. 

Following the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Mindich emerged as a key figure in the new oligarchic network that formed around the military supply sector. 

On November 10, 2025, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)—both independent of the presidential administration—announced a major probe into an energy-sector corruption scheme known as Operation Midas.

Searches were carried out at the state energy company Energoatom, as well as at the homes of Mindich and Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who previously served as energy minister during the period under investigation.

According to the findings, participants in the scheme laundered roughly $100 million. NABU also began publishing recordings from Mindich’s apartment, capturing conversations about corrupt dealings.

On November 11, Mindich and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity Alexey Chernyshov, also viewed as part of Zelenskyy’s close circle, were formally charged.

That same day, the government dissolved Energoatom’s board, and on November 12, Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk submitted their resignations.

Mindich, however, whom some Ukrainian media have described as Zelenskyy’s “wallet,” left the country mere hours before the searches began and is currently in Israel.

By Jeyhun Aghazada